Hobbit-off?!

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Peter Jackson says he will not be directing a movie based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel “The Hobbit” or a planned prequel to “The Lord of the Rings.”

In a letter posted on Theonering.com., Jackson and partner Fran Walsh said an executive from New Line Cinema had called to tell them the studio was moving ahead with “The Hobbit” without him.

“Last week, Mark Ordesky called Ken (Kamins, Jackson’s manager) and told him that New Line would no longer be requiring our services on ‘The Hobbit’ and the LOTR ‘prequel,”’ the 45-year-old New Zealand director wrote.

Let's all say it together: Big mistake, New Line. Biiiiig mistake. Pay P.J. what he's worth. He made some of the coolest movies ever and you $3billion already. Are you stupid?

I hate this clash of art and commerce. Businesspeople think they can hire anyone they want to shoot a movie and expect to get the same result.

I'm sure there are countless examples, but Superman II from 1980 is an especially good indicator of how these things work out. Richard Donner, who when he directed Superman invented the superhero movie, was deemed "disagreeable" halfway through the shoot of Superman II. The producers canned him and reshot half of what he'd shot with a hack director who agreed to add in all the cheap full-of-holes b.s. the producers wanted. Now, 26 years later, after an Internet petition by the fans who wanted to see Donner's original version, we get Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut.

How much do you want to bet that in 20 years Peter Jackson will end up re-making whatever atrocity New Line comes up without him?

Fast Food Nation

I thought it was weird that they decided to make the movie a fictionalized version of the book, which is jampacked with information about all different aspects of the fast food industry. Wouldn't it have been better to make a documentary? Then again, people connect to characters and their stories. (Of course, the real reason a documentary wasn't made was because all the studios have relationships with fast food companies and it would affect sponsorship, blah blah blah.)

Good adaptation or not, the information is worth knowing. Here's a good Q&A with the author of the book, which started out as an article for Rolling Stone, but got so much attention that he expanded his investigation and research. He recently published Chew On This, sort of a different version of Fast Food Nation, meant for a younger audience, which made a splash.

I'm starting to believe that almost every decision you make is political. Which movie to go see and whether to see it on opening weekend, where to eat or buy food. I wanted to go see Fast Food Nation on opening weekend just to support it because whether it's good or not, more movies like it should be made. Too many of us are unaware of the mechanisms behind so many simple things in our lives.

I believe that ignorance is bliss, but I'd rather be appalled and working on corrections to the problems.

Lab Meat

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to go vegetarian. So far so good, except for a trip to McDonald's that is part of our driving-to-New-Jersey tradition. I am still eating fish, which gives me options at restaurants. I won't be eating another double burger on this week's Thanksgiving road trip to New Jersey, though. I've hardened my resolve.

This decision is based on moral issues. I know that animals who are raised to be food are treated horrifically and I don't want to be part of the problem.

It's also a health decision because not only are the conditions bad for animals, but they are frequently bad for the consumer too. The worse condition the animals are in, the less healthy it is to eat them.

If I could be guaranteed that the meat came from an animal that was killed humanely, I would feel a lot better about eating it. But humane practices aren't the standard.

I might not have to worry about animals at all anymore because according to this article, it will soon be possible to grow meat in labs using bioengineering. No live animals would ever be involved. That sounds gross and sci-fi, but it might be a grocery store option in ten years. The article points out that lab meat would not only prevent the slaughter of animals, but it would help the environment: in the United States, livestock produce 1.4 billion tons of waste each year.

Sign Here

I have a signed copy of the memoir Half the House. Author Richard Hoffman was in residence at Emerson while I was there getting my BA in Writing, Literature and Publishing. We read his book for my freshmen writing symposium, which focused on the family and fatherhood.

Until this morning, that was the only book I owned that contained the signature of its creator. During some chit chat with CIO's managing editor, I learned that he penned two mystery thrillers. He offered me a copy, I accepted and he signed it. Now I can add Zaddick to my collection of two.

One of the other editorial assistants here has a vast collection of books that contain personal notes and signatures of their authors. Mostly, it's Stephen King titles. I wouldn't mind having a book signed by King since he's so famous, but I would love to have Francesca Lia Block sign something for me. Unfortunately, all of her book signings take place on the west coast.

Far more valuable to me are the books that have been given as gifts and contain personal notes in the first few pages. I have at least three such books from Ben, and probably another three from various other people. Sometimes I pull them off the shelf just to read the notes.

Signatures are bizarre things to ask celebrities for. A picture is more fun and more unique. There are people I would love to be able to sit down and interview, but what good is a signature? I've seen only a handful of celebrities in my life. I never bothered them, but if I had, I wouldn't have wanted an autograph. And yet it made my morning to receive this signed book.

We saw Mohammad Ali in the airport when my family was on our way to San Diego. My father brought us over to him and said to my brother and me, "I want you to meet the greatest boxer that ever lived." Ali shook our hands. He didn't speak to anyone because of his condition. When my then-six year old brother asked, "Could you beat Rocky?" Ali just smiled, and mimed boxing with my brother, tapping him lightly on the cheek.

That memory is better than some ink on a page of a book that will be shelved and forgotten.

Kid Movies

I watched Monster House (that animated movie) last night, not expecting anything, and was pleasantly surprised from start to finish. The only time I ever think it would be nice to have kids is when I'm watching a movie I think they'd like. They should have a service called Kidflix, where a kid shows up at your door with a movie you can watch together, then when it's over you mail them both back.

The Only Air Freshener You'll Ever Need

Walk into any supermarket and you'll find an entire aisle devoted to air fresheners. Sprays, gels, flowery baskets, things that plug into the wall. They come in every variety of scent, from mountain pine to summer blast, yet none of them comes close to actually smelling "fresh."

The only air freshener you'll ever need is one you probably already have. I speak of dryer sheets.

Car a bit stinky? Pass on the dangling Christmas trees and, instead, toss a few dryer sheets under the seat.

Trash can remind you of rotting meat? Drop a dryer sheet in the can before putting in the bag.

Add them to closets and drawers, keep them under couch cushions, and if you want to smell like clean laundry all day, cut off a small square of dryer sheet and pop it right in your shirt pocket.

Friendlier than cologne, less obstrusive than perfume, and a whole lot cheaper than those Glade Plug-It-Ins (you can easily get 100+ sheets for a couple bucks), dryer sheets are all you need to take care of every odor problem.

Chafee for Governor!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my quandary over voting for a good Republican senator at a time when a Democratic Senate was so important. In the end, I voted for Lincoln Chafee, the Republican. I couldn't personally vote to kick a good man out, even though I hoped he didn't win. I felt good about my vote then, and I feel extra good about it after reading this:

A key Senate Republican has joined Democrats in opposing one of Bush's initiatives for the lame-duck Congress: John Bolton's nomination as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

...Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who was defeated in this week's election, said he would block Bolton's nomination.

Chafee, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters that he did not believe Bolton's nomination would move forward without his support.

"The American people have spoken out against the president's agenda on a number of fronts, and presumably one of those is on foreign policy," the Rhode Island moderate told The Associated Press. "And at this late stage in my term, I'm not going to endorse something the American people have spoke out against."

House and Senate, baby!

What a beautiful day.

I don't know what the best part has been. Maybe it was the sheer joy of winning. Or maybe it was watching Rick "Same-sex marriage is as absurd as marrying your dog" Santorum go down in flames, and George "Macaca / We're gonna knock their soft teeth down their whining throats" Allen's defeat turning the Senate blue. Maybe it was the montage of worldwide newspaper headlines on the news, happily drawing a distinction between the American people and the obnoxious president we rebuked. Maybe it was seeing Bush slink out to fire Rumsfeld, who on Monday had the president's full support -- and realizing that however tyrannical I like to complain a president is, thanks to some clever thinking 200+ years ago, he's only ever one election day away from being a lame duck.

Instructions for Enjoying a Friend's Wedding

1. Dress up. Pretend like your going to the prom, then take it down a few notches.
2. Take lots of pictures.
3. Don't get sentimental about love.
4. Don't think this marriage means you should consider marriage.
5. Eat all you want.
6. Don't have more than one drink an hour.
7. Dance with your friends. You don't see each other often enough anymore.
8. Don't spend time reminiscing about old memories. A wedding is a time to make new ones.
9. Give everyone big hugs hello and goodbye.
10. Tell the bride she's beautiful, that you enjoyed yourself and that everything turned out perfectly.
11. Tell the groom it was worth all the time and money. Tell him his brother didn't screw it up too badly. Assure him no one will remember that part of the evening.
12. Don't miss the shuttle back to the hotel.
13. Even though you brought your bathing suit, don't go swimming in the 24-hour heated hotel pool. Go to sleep instead.

"Instructions" is one of many writing prompts from Sunday Scribblings.

Note To Co-Workers

Just because I sit near the printer doesn't mean I have any idea what's wrong with it when it breaks. Stop asking me for help.

Deval

It's about time I heard a political speech that brought tears to my eyes. Thank you Deval!

"You are the young man from Boston who took the midnight bus from college in New York to be at the polls to vote this morning, then hopped on the next bus back to New York so that he could be back in time for his internship. You are the mother who thanked me this morning for running a campaign her kids could watch and be proud of. You are the retiree who told me the other day that this campaign changed her life. You are the homeless man who figured out how to register and vote without an address, because he did not want to be left out again. You are the venture capitalist in the office tower who organized other VCs to help, and the cleaning crew who stopped us in the lobby on the way in to say, 'I'm with you, too.' You are the new citizen who says with such pride that you cast your first vote for Tim and me. You are the tired and frustrated public official, who just got your second wind. You are every Black man, woman and child in Massachusetts and America, and every other striver of every race and kind, who is reminded tonight that the American Dream is for you, too."

Fur Facts

It's been un-PC to wear fur for years. I knew that animals were raised in deplorable conditions just to be killed so their skins could be made into high-fashion.

What I didn't know is that animals are almost always still alive when they are skinned. I watched a video of a wolf panting and blinking as its fur was pulled back, the way you'd peel off a swimsuit. Their bodies are thrown onto a pile of other bodies, where they soon die. Even worse, before the skinning even began, the people were beating and teasing the wolf.

Most people are aware that the fur trade isn't pretty work. Some might think that once the fur is gone, the rest of the animal is used for something (it's not; for example dairy, beef and leather come from three separate sets of livestock). Do most people think the animals are killed before they are skinned? Or even afterwards? It would be humane to at least kill them afterwards instead of leaving them to suffer before they die, right?

I wonder how many people would consider wearing fur, or even buying clothes from a company that uses fur, if they knew what I just learned.

Yeah Doogie!!

Neil Patrick Harris, who starred in "Doogie Howser, M.D.," and who currently stars in the CBS comedy "How I Met Your Mother," is gay and wants to quell any rumors to the contrary.

"(I) am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest," Harris tells People magazine's Web site.

Vote Democrat

LONDON - The United States is seen as a threat to world peace by its closest neighbors and allies, with Britons saying President Bush poses a greater danger than North Korea’s Kim Jong Il, a survey found Friday.

Lovely.

Letters to God

Hundreds of unopened letters to God washed up on the Jersey shore yesterday, some dating all the way back to the 70's.